Process for knocking up sheets and the like, particularly paper sheets.



W. C. AYLARD & J. P. PETTY.

PROCESS FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS. APPLICATION FILED NOV-23.19l4.

1 279,494: Patented Sept. 24, 1918 Winekses a My 12% wfiggwm wmmy W. C. AYLARD & J. P. PETTY.

PROCESS FOR KNQCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEE TS. APPLICATION FILED NOV-23.19I4.

1 ,279,4:94.' Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

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W. C. AYLARD & J. P. PETTY.

PROCESS FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED MW. 23. I9l4- 4 1,279,494. PatentedSept. 24,1918.

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Attorney.

W. C. AYLARD 61]. P. PETTY. PROCESS FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED. NOV. 23. IBM.

Patented Sept. 24, 1918'.

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W. C. AYLAHD' & J. P. PETTY. PROCESS FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLYPAPER SHEETS. APPLICATION FILED NOV 23. 1914.

1,279,494. Patented Sept. 24,1918.

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APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23. 1914.

1 ,279,4:94. Patented 24, 1918.

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I inventors: W 4% mwmwwmfi 9 we a WILLIAhl/E CHRISTOPHER .AYLARD AND JOHN PAXTON PETTY, READING, ENGLAND.

' PRocEss FOR KNOCKING Ur SHEETS AND THE LIKE. PARTTC U LAELY PAPER SHEETS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept 24c, 1918.

Application filed November 23, 1914. Serial No. 873.598.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, WILLIAM CHRISTO- PHER AYLARD and JOHN PAxToN PETTY, subjects of His Majesty the King of England, residing at Reading, in the county of- Berkshire, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in -'Processes for Knocking Up Sheets, and the like, Particularly Paper Sheets, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is a new art or proc-' ess for mechanically performing the process generally known as knocking up sheets of paper and like articles delivered from printing or other machinery or for 1 other like operations. For effecting this purpose by the present invention we propose to adopt means to keep the sheets of paper or other likeobjects in a live or vibratory condition during the whole or a considerable portioif of the time employed in knocking up while at the same time employing means for directing the sheets toward the lay-edge or edges of their equivalent, which last object may be very conveniently attained by' incliningthe board or the like on which the sheets lie toward such edge or edges or may be obtained by the action of moving jogger-s or feneesneither of which methods is, of course, in ltself new. The live or vibratory condition of the sheets may be obtained by acting on the board either directly or indirectly by any meanswhich will trans- 'mit. to the sheetsthe necessary vibration.

. By the term a live condition whenused in the specificationis meanta condition in which the sheets do not lie: or slide over each other with an even surface but where on the contrary there are a series of waves or vibra tions produced in the sheetswhich cause at any rate the upper. sheetsof the pile 'to have .slight localmovements especially in a vertical direction whicheither by breaking adhesion r otherwise facilitates ,the movement of these sheets in any desired direction. The object of the apparatus employed is to pro'-' duce such live condition and therefore the mounting of the board or the like or the 'means of acting'on it may vary greatly.

For heavier work we find it preferable to employ a spring mounting. or its equivalent for theboard while for lighter work such spring mounting may be unnecessary, as a non-spring mounted board of suitable construction may yet be able to vibrate sufliciently to produce the necessary live con dition. l v

The vibrations are obtained by communicating to the board a series of impulses, as for examplebv delivering blows or by suddenly checking its movement. The number of such impulses necessarily varies with the construction of the board and with the number and weight of the sheets being knocked up and where the board is not spring .mounted a greater number of impulses in a wh'ch lie in the same or different vertical pla es or at different points of-the board or the b ard may be subjected to suddenly arreste tilting movements.

Again we may employ a series of cams under the table with which a revolving organ co-acts to impart a series of. jumps or impulses or suddenly arrested tilting movements to the table; and by" making the fall off edges of the cams steep the blows resulting from the revolving organ leaving any cam is emphasized. In the hereinafter described embodiment of this form of board,

suddenly arrested tilting movements in dif-,

ferent vertical planes are give'rftothe board, but such tilting movements may be 1n one vertical plane only.

In any case either by the movement of the board-to secure the blows, or otherwise by a special movement of the board,, there may be accompanying general movement of the v sheets in therplane ofthe board, the general movement preferred being an orbital or eccentric movement. Such a general movement of the sheets has the efl'ect of tapping them against the lay fences'with which the board is furnished and willserve to give a drawing away movement of the sheets from the fences which will serve to automatically position any sheet which may fall with one of its edges or side marginal portions resting against the side of any fence.

Iiiveliness of the sheets to give a m nimum resistance to movement up to the lay corner. may be promoted by giving the board somewhat yielding blows such as would be imparted by tapping or striking with or against a hollow organ having an elastic of a-stream of overlapping sheets in which the top sheet is first taken in by the feeder and is thereafter turned overfor individual delivery or dropping onto the board, but a suitable number of the sheets may be dropped or placed simultaneously upon the board or into the "receptacle, or the sheets may be so fed upon the board or into the receptacle that a gap exists between each sheet and that immediately preceding and succeeding 1t, the'feeding of the sheets in the form of a stepped sequence as before de- 1 scribed being preferable as-a greater number of. sheets can be knocked up in a 7 given time. o r

In order to secure a proper continuous feeding of thesheets an air blast or air current may be introduced under the sheets as they are fed onto the board so that in cases where the stepped sequence of sheets'is for any reason interru ted the sheet immediately following the gap is prevented from overtaking the 'Jpreceding sheet and passing thereunder to fold it over on itself. In a convenient arrangement for this purposethe movable'fence or jogger in the line of the feed is attached to a bellowsto thereby automatically produce the air blast or air current as it moves back and forth. b

For the purpose of compensating for "various weights'of paper the expedient is preferably adopted of arranging for the force of the blows tobe adjustable, one con venient arrangement under the control ofthe machine minder being after. I

referred to here- For the purpose of making our said invention better understood -we describe with the aid of the accompanying drawings nae-area two machines which have been actuallymade, but it is to be understood that these are merely described. as showing certain methods of carrying out our invention andthat our invention is in no way confined to the specific machines or to one. containing all or any of the features therein described.

In the drawings I Figure l is a perspective view of a machine according to this invention. and

Fig. 2 an enlarged detail view thereof.

3 is a sectional side view of a further construction of machine according to this invention,

Fig. 4 a sectional plan view on line A-A 8O "of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 a front v1ew partly broken away. Figs. 6, 'Z, '8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are detail views of the machine illustrated by F igs. 3 to 5.

Figs. 13 and-1e depicttwo forms of sheet feeders which have been found to work well.

The machine illustrated by Fig. 1 comprises a table 1, which is maintained in constant vib atory or other comparable moveso ment. I

The vibrating'table ispreferably set or adjusted to have a general inclination downward towardone cornerfthere being provided barriers or stops 3, 4: for the sheets as they drift down to this corner.

- In combination with the above mentioned slope of the vibrating table, thereais a pit 2 .formed of sides all of which or but for preference as shown two of which 5, 6 have independent vibratory or beating motion whereby the formation of an even pile is facilitated. The vibration or motion of the table 1 is as shown such as results from the upward impulse on each corner or selected points in succession produced by a rotating head 7 underneath, the head 7 hairing one projection 8 whichsuccessively engages with or bears against projections 9 under the corners of the table 1. A device of more definite-leading power consists of a rotating head under the table 1 the rotating head 7 having tworollers or wheels 8 on opposite partsof its diam'eterfand these act. in thefollowing manner The table 1 .is on a universal joint 10 and at the o tset it may be regarded as horizontal an or the corner corresponding to. the lay sides or fences 3," 4- of the pit 2 and; under the'si des adjacent to this corner there are no projections, while there is a cam 'or projection 9 under-the corner of the table corresponding to the open corner of the pit-or the corner onv which are movable ogging gages 5, 6 .and there is also a cam projection 9 under each of the'jsides corresponding'to this last mentioned corner.

The action of the revolving head 7 is now as follows Y The revolving heed? is secured to and revolves with the revolving shaft 18, which is driven by any suitable prime mover through the shaft 19.

As one of the two rollers 8 on the revolving head 7 engages successively on the series of three cams 9 under the higher corner of the pit there'is a general sloping down of the table 1 toward the lay corner and this With a series of three jumps or impulses, the second roller 8 on the revolving head taking theblow or thrust caused by theforward tilting of the table 1. Nextthe second roller 8 on the revolving head 7 acts on the cams or projections 9- and the first roller 8 bears on the even face of the underside of the table.

Thus there is a production of a series of jerks which tend to lead the sheets down to the lay corner and the blow resulting from the roller leaving a cam or projection is emphasized by making the fall-off edge of the cam steep as shown and by the use of the springs 11 which pull under the table at the corners. i

The tilting movements of the board 1 act also to cause the sheets or the like-to move bodily or generally in their own plane.

If desired the table 1 can be further subjected to a blow or a series of blows which is or are'delivered, in a plane of the table. For this purpose an abutment or abutments which may be the side frames 12 of the machine is or are provided against'which the side or sides or a corner or the corners of the vibrating table 1 strikes by virtue of horizontal or substantially horizontal swing ing movements about the universal joint 10;

- this blow or these blows being delivered in the plane of the table or in a plane which is substantially parallel to the plane .of the table.

A highly sensitive condition, orlive condition of the sheets is produced by the above described device so that apart from the tendrangement being such that the moving joggers work alternately, 6., one is moving toward the sheets while the other is'moving away from the sheets.

The preferred arrangement for feeding the sheets from a feed board is illustrated in Figs. 13 and} 14:. By this arrangement a rapid individual delivery or dropping of sheets from .a pile is obtained with-but a simple stroking action directedtowa-rd the taking in rollers to directly pass the sheets in stepped sequence between the taking in rollers with the leading sheet of any successive pair of sheets lying uppermost.

This is accomplished in said preferred arrangement by a sheet feeding apparatus As depicted in the drawings (Fig. 13), a, Y

designates a feed board for the reception of a pile of sheets I) to be individually delivered to the knocking up board, and 0, d indicate a double endless blanket or band or tape carrier running over triads of rollers 6, e 6 and f, f and f "respectively, the course of! the carriers depicted being first away from the feed board or front of the machine and then returning toward the front of the machine where delivery is made at an appropriate point below the level of the feed board.

The companion rollers e, f, serve as the taking in rollers and the companion rollers e f as the delivery rollers.

For the purpose of realizing an easier slopin down of the sheets to the taking in ro lers e, f the pile b is preferably bodily fanned out as shown, the leading sloped edge 9 of the pile flexing or yielding toward the feed board more or less according to the I weight of the paper.

Now by hand or mechanical stroking action on the trailing portions of successive sheets, this stroking being directed toward' the taking in rollers *e, f, the sheets are stepped forward as indicated at h and passed directly in stepped sequence between the rollers e, f. The stepped sequence or stream of sheets is then gripped by the double' blanket or band or tape system'c, cl,

and is carriedthereby around the. roller f to thedelivery rollers 6 f Thus the top 'sheet at the receiving end is first taken in and is thereafter turned over, being thereby automatically freed from the succeeding sheets for individual delivery or.

droppingas shown at i.

.The companlon rollers and the blankets or hands or tapes will be arranged in well understood manner to hold the successive sheets thereby, and in the travel of the lapped sheets between the rollers :any

' adhesions existing between the sheets would be broken by an arching'of the paper.

Fig. 14 illustratesa more compact arrangement compared with that shown by Fig. 13, but functioning in exactly the same manner, the wconstructional difference being that the turn back of the endless blankets or their equivalent is effected about the roller 7' and one roller, viz., f is dispensed with.

In Fig, 1- a similar feeding of the sheets is indicated; theseb'eing fed from'a suitably located feed board not shown, between two endless traveling bands 15, 16, the system running around transverse and suitably revolved rollers l7,"by which the sheets are inverted and caused to travel to the vibrating table 1 in the form of an overlapping stream of sheets. The bands 15, 16, can be tightened in any convenient manner, but preferably this is done by spring pressure.

The rollers are preferably rotated in any convenient manner from the driving shaft 19.

The machine illustrated by Figs. 3 to 12 comprises a base .20 supporting a pair of side frames 21, 22 and at the front a cross mem ber 23 having forwardly extending brackets '24 at each end'i's provided. A transverse driving shaft .25 driven from any suitable Y source of power is mounted in the frame and furnished with three eccentrics 26, 26, 27, the connecting rods 28, 28 of the outer eccentrics 26, 26 whereof are linked to the brackets 24, 24 of the cross member 23.

A pair of transverse shafts 29, 30 are connected to or near to the forward and rear ends of the connecting rods 28, 28 respectively and carry a perforate table or frame 31 by means of four bearings 32 depending from the underside of the table; The arrangement being preferably such asto admit of a simultaneous lateral movement of the table 31/ On the rotation of the driving shaft 25 the lower table 31 will be moved back and forth longitudinally of the machine and in virtue of the eccentrics 26, 26 on the one hand and the linked connection of the eccentric connecting rods 28, 28 on the other hand the tablewill move in a vertical plane in a curved or partially curved path.

At the four corners the'table is furnished with wells or boxes for the reception of stops furnished on the underside of an upper table or board, 35 hereinafter referred to.

The first mentioned ;.or lower table 31 is. further furnished with reces'ses'36,;37pref-- erably dovetailed arranged normal to each other and to adjacent sides of such table 31, for the reception of slides 38, for the pur- I pose presently referred to. I

Cylindric spiral compression springs 40 are mounted preferably in wells 33 of the lower table '31 to support and carry the upper table 35, the lower ends of these springs 40 being secured in any suitable manner to the lower table 31 while the upper ends of the springs are fastened or secured in any suitable manner to the upper table or board 35. The upper table is thus vibratably and movably mounted on the lower table. In order to limit the movement of the upper table 35 in relation to the lower table 31 and secure the delivery of blows, or a jerking or suddenarrest of the upper table the underside of the latter is furnished with stops 34 which may 'be located adjacent to the springs 40 but arranged so as not to interfere with the action of the springs. These stops 34 fit into-the wells 33 of the lower table 31 and are of such dimensions as .to leave a clearance betweenthe inner side walls of the wells 33 and the outer sides of the stops 34.

A suitable arrangement is provided for subjecting the upper table 35 alternately to longitudinal and lateral blows. A preferable arrangement is the following A horizontal bell crank lever 41 is pivoted to the lower table 31 and connected at its free ends to the dove-tailed slides 38, 39 before referred to each of these slides being furnished with strikers or fingers 42, 43 for i which is linked through a universal joint 50 and a link element 53 to a rearwardly extended bracket 51 fixed to the before mentioned cross member 23. A connecting rod 52 is secured to the medial eccentric 27 and the free end of this rod is pivotally connected to the link element 53 of such slide 38 so that on-the rotation of the driving shaft 25, the link will be oscillated to thereby cause the slide 38 to III/QVG back andforth,

and'through the medium ofthe bell crank lever 41 the transverse slide 39 will also. be reciprocated. Or ifpreferred the longitudinally moving slide 38 may be reciprocagted from above the surface of the table.

The force of blows or the like delivered to I the upper table 35 by'the before mentioned strikers or fingers 42, 43 can be suitably regulatedor modified. Conveniently such regulation or: modification of the force of the blows or .the likeis afiorded byadjustable {slopes 54, 55 whereby the distance between the strikers or fin ers 42 or 43 and the of the opening of the inner sides 46 or 4? upper table'35"or the'said surfaces or stops can be increased or decreased as desired.

In addition to the longitudinal movement the lower table 31" is preferably also subjected to a lateral movement and .for this purpose a bell crank lever 56 is fixed to one of the outer eccentric connecting rods 28, one end of the bell crank lever 56 being pivotally secured to the lower table 31 and the other end of the said lever being linked to the corresponding side frame or standard 22! The upper table 35 is-preferably given a slope to one corner to facilitate the" movement of the sheets or the like toward this corner which is made the lay corner, it being desirable in such a case that the upper table 35 be supported by two or more springs 40 or a stronger unit spring at this corner, and in order to prevent undue movement of the table 35 springs 57 are provided, one end of each of which is secured to the upper table 35 and the other end to the lower table 31. or-to the corresponding frame 21, 22 respectively.

-A top board or plate 58 is fixed to the upper table 35 and is furnished with slots.

59 for the reception of the dependent legs of a set of fences or jogg'ers. Preferably two of the joggers 60, 61 are movable and two 62,

' -63 ordinarily the two constituting the lay prises a fixed board 65 having an air inlet 66 and being in cbnnection w1th the movable edges are stationary. The stationary joggers 62, 63 are mounted on slides by -means of which they may be fixed inany desired position, while the movable j oggers 60, 61 proj ect through the upper table 35 and are fixed to the slides 38 and 39 respectively of the lower table 31 and are moved toward or away from the center of the top board 58 by the movement of' such slides in the lower table.

In order to insure a proper delivering of the sheets or the like an air-blast or air current may be introduced behind the sheets being delivered.

For this purpose one of the movable fences preferably the back fence may be fur- J nished with openings 64 through which air is blown toward the sheets. The means for producing the air blast convenlently comfence '60 by means of a bellows 67 so that on the inward movement of the fence 60 air is drawn between the fence and the stationary board and on the outward movement of the fence air is expelled through the opening 64 in the fence.

A feed table 68 is fixed at or adjacent to the top of the side frames or standards 21',

22 from which the sheets or the like may be fed between two endless traveling bands 69, 70 according to the preferred arrangement hereinbefore set forth in detail, the system running around transverse rollers 71 by which the sheets are inverted and caused to travel to the top board 58 .in stepped sequence for produce a highly s ensitivecondition or live condition, or constant vertical tremor. of the sheets, this being caused by the vibratory motion of the uppertable 35 set up by the rapid series of blows imparted to the upper table both directly by the strikers or fingers The bands 69, '70 can 42, 43. and alsoby the rebounding action of 1 the springs 40 supporting the upper table 35 on the lower table 31, which causes the stops 34- on the underside of the upper table to repeatedly strike against the sides of the wells 33. T V

Accompanying this vibratory motion of the upper table 35 is a general orbital or. horizontal vibratory movement of the sheets in the plane of the table, this movement arising from the companion motions of the lower table.

Witha machine constructed substantially 1 as above described in detail according to Figs. 3 to 12 and with the sheets fed in the form of a stepped'web and with the driving shaft driven at a speed of revolutions per minutethe knocking up, or dressingi or even.

The invention is applicable for use in pro-- ducing an even piling of envelops, pa er bags, sheets of cardboard and compara le fiat objects. I

It is to be understood that where we refer in the specification or claims to knocking up we mean a process for producing even piles of paper or the like whether such process is technically known as knocking up, or otherwise and where we refer to sheets of paper we also include like articles which may require 'to be evenly piled.

Having thus described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A method of piling sheets which comprisesv vibrating the sheets in a plane transverse to'the plane of the sheets and simultaneously subjecting the projecting edges of the sheets to pressure.

2. A method of piling sheets which com,-

- prises supporting the pile by its lower flat surface and two contiguous downwardly inclined edge'surfaces and simultaneously subjecting the pile to vibration.

3.'A method of piling sheets which comprises feeding sheets tothe pile, continu- 'o sly jarring the growing pile as-a Whole and tapping one of its edge surfaces While loosened by said'jarring.

4.- A method of piling sheets which comprises'maintaining the sheets of the pile out ofexact parallelism and simultaneously forcing certain of the projecting edges of said sheets into'registry with those beyond ing the pile to vibration in a direction transwhich they project.

5. A method of piling sheets which comprises vibrating the pile in a plane transverse to the la e of the sheets simultaneously subject igl the edges of the sheets to pressure and simultaneously vibrating the pile in an edgewise direction.

6. A method of pilingsheets which comprises vibrating the pile in a plane transverse to the plane of the sheets and simulta neously giving the pile an intermittent abruptly terminated edgewise movement.

7. A method of piling \sheets which comprises supporting the pile in a position having each of two contiguous edges down- Wardly inclined-and simultaneously subjectverse to the plane of the sheets. g j

8. A method ofpiling sheets which comprises imparting to the pile. abruptly terminated edgewise movements in a predeterimined direction alternated with similar edgewise movements in a direction at right, 1

angles thereto J '9. method of piling sheets which comtee/area prises impartirig to the pile abruptly terminated edgewise movements in a predeter- I mineddirection alternate with similar edgewise movements in a direction at right angles thereto and simultaneously vibrating. the pile in a direction transverse to the plane of the sheets.

10. A method of piling sheets which comprises flatWise agitation of a plurality of sheets duringedgewise relative adjustment thereof. a

'11. A method of forming an even pile of sheets which comprises supporting the sheets upon a substantially even surface,

shaking them fiatwise and simultaneously adjusting them edgewise. j

12. A method of'piling sheets which comprisessubjectingto fiatwise shaking a plurality of superposed sheets to loosen them one from another'in a position with their planes downwardly inclined and lower edges substantially against a member, and mamtaining said last member free from move- In testimony whereof we afiix our signa- H tures in presenceof two Witnesses.

WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER AYLARD. JOHN PAKTON PETTY.

Witnesses:

HERBERT WALTER MEADOWCROFT, ALBERT- Gr. BARNES. 

